Mauro De Giorgi says of his work, "In an attempt to explore all of the creative possibilities of water, I've made some experiments with sumi (Japanese Calligraphy ink) in order to create a series of shapes which I eventually selected and cropped. My aim is to show the water without showing...the water (!) but rather treat it as a sort of metaphysical, empty space, taking inspiration from the Japanese concept of 'Ma' (the pure, and indeed essential, void between all things).

Throughout this process, I let my subconscious work for me to discover a 'story' behind each picture.
​
The water is talking to me through 3 images: an angel, a demon and a lily flower. I've associated these symbols to the following meaning:

Angel: Throughout the history of human kind and all religions, the water has always been considered something sacred, a connection to our higher spiritual side, the ultimate symbol of purification.

Demon: It represents the misuse of our natural resources, the pollution and all the negative effects which derive from our sense of separation from Nature, as a demon's agenda is indeed to keep humankind separated from God.

Lily: The strength and beauty of this international flower has cemented its place in the cultures of the world. With such a delicate figure, it’s no wonder the flower means royalty, rebirth, and purity. And that's the ultimate message that the water is sending us: we need to rejoin purity."

Mauro De Giorgi is an international artist whose works have been displayed
in Italy (Venice Biennale), United Kingdom (London), Japan (Tokyo)
and now Singapore, where he currently resides.

Mauro has been always fascinated by Asian and Japanese aesthetics, and has been painting since he was a child.

In 2010 he moved to London, where he also kept producing and displaying his own artwork at various London galleries and across Europe (Italy, France).

In 2015 he was selected by the Benetton Art Foundation to exhibit at the Venice Biennale.

One of his artworks has been published in Benetton Collection book ‘Preastigium’.

Later the same year he moved to Tokyo (Japan) in order to carry out and extend his research into Japanese aesthetics and art, working with various Japanese artists including well-known sumi master Shukou Tsuchiya, and exhibiting across Tokyo.

One of his artworks was sold to international jazz singer Aki Yashiro.

Mauro’s practice of art is a constant attempt to achieve balance and purity through a minimal yet creative approach
which also includes ancient techniques such as sumi (calligraphy ink), gyotaku (fish printing) and iwa enogu (mineral
pigments).

He has also worked as a creative for brands such as Michelin, L’Oreal, FIAT and Nestle’.

Michelle Zassenhaus says of her work, "I live in the massive, physically dense metropolis that is New York City. One rarely finds the horizon line here: it’s typically impeded by buildings, people, things – so I went in search of it. The horizon at the city limits describes a very different New York City: a city that is a pack of islands, and the horizon is where the man made and the natural collide.

I’m frequently driven by this curiosity, and a yearning to find the horizon. There, in corners less traveled, large fields of subtly nuanced color split by that quiet little line where the tension lives yield the sensation of living in a large scale color-field painting. Like a painter, I work with color and composition to convey the emotion and sense of a place, and consider our relationship to it.

At New York City’s edge, the land meets the water meets the sky. At times the transition is strikingly natural. Others, remnants of industry – failed piers, current-managing jetties, uniformly planted wild brush – tell stories about our efforts to negotiate the boundaries.

With a lens-less large-format camera, I record layers of time and color through long exposures and the failures of film. The resulting images are printed human-sized (5ft x 6.5ft), offering the viewer an opportunity to be consumed by the moment when city meets sea."

Michelle Zassenhaus is an independent artist in Brooklyn, New York. Her work explores spaces - in particular, the passage of time (through long exposures) and the human relationship to space.

Michelle is a contributor at Getty Images. She received a BFA in Art Photography from Syracuse University in 1996.

THE HUG by Samanta Aretino*HONORABLE MENTION(Click here for larger view)

Samanta Aretino emigrated from Buenos Aires, the country of her birth, to Spain in 2001. She says this experience greatly affected her work and made her look at the world in a different way, with the knowledge that there are many ways to live, create, express, feel, and relate to people. Aretino’s photographs reflect this understanding: they're an exploration of the world and how people navigate through it.

In this series she wants to reflect the relationship between people and nature. The way we pass by on earth, like if we and the rest of the living creatures, as if we and the environment were separated worlds. She have fusioned the personages and the nature escapes so that people and nature became one.

She feels specially influenced by many different artists of many various disciplines such us Sebastian Salgado, Gervasio Sanchez, Chema Madoz, Isabel Muñoz, Vivian Maier, Tina Modotti, Ouka Leele.

Aretino says, "I studied photography at the School of Art Arroyomolinos, Madrid. Then I continued my studies at the School of Photography of Pedro Menendez de la Cuesta, Arroyomolinos-Madrid. I have done specialization courses with various artists, including Juan Manuel Díaz Burgos.
I have also worked as a volunteer in ARCO Art Feria in Madrid in 2014."

SameSource says of this work, "Water is the basis of life on earth, but that has not stopped humanity from polluting many natural sources of water and turning the surrounding eco-systems into dumps. Yet, we all are still drawn to water and the primal force connected to it.

With Dystopian Beach, the viewer experiences the contrast of nude beach bathers with the ruins of developed or polluted beaches. The soft surfaces of the Fine Art Nude confront the hard rectilinear edges of discarded industrial materials. Women, the source of life, dwell in the consequences of that life."

SameSource is a photographic artist with over two decades of professional experience recording images.

SameSource fine art photography spans both landscape and bodyscape, often exploring human sexuality and its relationship with art.

With recent showings from the Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, to Art Basel, Miami Beach, SameSource is becoming an established international presence.

SameSource was recently recognized with an Honorable Mention in the international Lumiere Award for 2016. Coagula Gallery in Los Angeles has included SameSource in its Ten Top Artists exhibition for 2016 in a show curated by Tulsa Kinney of Artillery Magazine.

SameSource work has been featured in The Huffington Postand American Photomagazine in connection with the Round Hole, Square Peg, exhibition at Artists Corner Gallery in Los Angeles.

SameSource work has twice been selected (2013, 2016) among the 12 best photos of the year in the prestigious 12” of Sin International Art Exhibition with extended runs at Sin City Gallery in Las Vegas. Works from SameSource’s Apples series have twice been award winners in YDP contests held by renowned Duncan Miller Gallery.

SameSource has origins in the rural Midwest. After studying music and philosophy in a liberal arts education, the artist went to Italy and became immersed in the works of the Renaissance.

A return to the US brought the pursuit of graduate work in music and cinema, with an eventual arrival on the west coast via the USC film school. In addition to the full-time pursuit of photographic fine art, SameSource output has included notable works as a recording artist, writer, and filmmaker.

Learn more at SameSourceFineArt.com and follow SameSource on Facebook and Instagram; SameSourcePhoto on Twitter.

DYSTOPIAN BEACH 2 by SameSource(Click here for larger view)

DYSTOPIAN BEACH 3 by SameSource(Click here for larger view)

OUT ON A LIMB by Shana Einhorn(Click here for larger view)

Shana Einhorn says of her work, "My art explores one’s connection to self, each other and the natural world.

While water was not a pre-determined element in the work, over time as it began to appear more often, it became apparent how integral it is in supporting themes of identity, fear, birth, significance, and connection that are fundamental in all my works. Utilizing water’s presence as both supporter and destroyer mirrors what’s at stake on a global scale as well. The photos bring life into focus and record aspects of one’s essential nature.

“The Abyss” is from an on-going series, Compost, where I am exploring, as well as creating, the narrative within the mother and daughter relationship. The following quote has been a guiding principle:
"... human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, ... life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

“Out On A Limb” and “To Risk”* were made during a rare commissioned session. The experience was an inspired creative collaboration and fell right in line with my responsive and spontaneous approach that permeates most of my personal work."

*”To Risk” titled from the poem by William Arthur Ward.

Einhorn says, "I am a fine art photographer from Huntington, NY. My art is not about image, it's about essence and as such I think of my work as spiritual photography.

The images explore one’s connection to self, each other and the natural world, using mostly old manual cameras with black & white film and lately, mobile photography.

I came to photography back in 2003 following a period of great personal losses, including health and family, when a friend loaned me a camera. I believe these devastating series of losses created space, unwittingly, to birth my creativity. While struggling with questions regarding despair vs. life the camera became my lifeline. It soon became apparent that photography was to become my life’s endeavor as a connection to the medium quickly deepened.

One can say that I used this new opportunity as a way to re-shape my world.

My intention was to connect and make good pictures; not to theorize about them – that came much later. The constraints and ramifications of living with chronic illness inform much of my art, as themes of connection and isolation permeate much of the work. Ultimately it is an inquiry about belonging and significance.

My work has been in 25 group exhibitions both juried and otherwise, and currently is in 3 private collections."

AFTER CHURCH ALONG THE LOUGH CORRIB by Thom O'Connor(Click here for larger view)

“After Church Along the Lough Corrib”

Thom O'Connor says of this image, "While still in their Sunday best, father and the children allow for a moment of cautious abandonment along the waters of western Ireland. Mother is perhaps warming the mid-day meal.

Those youngsters are grown now, and most likely taking their own children to Sundays along the waters."

Thom O’Connor has been making photographs for 55 years.

His editorial images have appeared in major American magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, PC Magazine, Parade, The Chicago Sun-Times and Prevention.

Thom has taught photography and design at Long Island University and The College of New Rochelle. He has written on photography for Popular Photography, American Photographer, Lens Magazine, USA Today, Photo District News, and The ASMP Bulletin.

Thom’s has been a member of the Highlands Photography Gallery in Milford, Pennsylvania, and the fotofoto Gallery in Huntington, New York. He is currently a member of the Soho Photo gallery in New York City.

NOT YET READY TO KNOW EACH OTHER by Thom O'Connor(Click here for larger view)

“Not Yet Ready to Know Each Other”

There’s more to life than just being a humble purveyor of water. Deeper currents will surface.

THE SHRINE AT KNOCK by Thom O'Connor(Click here for larger view)

“The Shrine at Knock”

It begins as merely water, and an unfathomable process imbues it with extraordinary powers. Faith seals the bargain.

DANGER by Todd Bradley(Click here for larger view)

Todd Bradley (1970, Detroit, USA) is a contemporary photographer currently residing in San Diego, and Palm Springs California.

His work concentrates on nature, and urban decay. Often showing quirkiness, Todd’s aesthetic focuses on detailed features, demonstrating new perspectives to ordinary objects in still time.

Classic photographers Karl Blossfeldt, Edward Weston, and Robert Mapplethorpe undoubtedly have influenced Todd’s work with their clean lines, geometry in nature, and use of negative space. Todd brings freshness in his whimsical compositions and subject matter.

For personal projects Todd turns to diorama toy photography. It’s about keeping his child-like mind active and creative. It’s about lightening his load. It’s about being playful, and happy. And not being so serious all the time. David Levinthal, Lori Nix, And Mathew Albanese are all inspirations when it come to this close macro work.

Todd has exhibited in numerous group shows world-wide including the See/Me Awards the Louvre, Paris; the Fort Wayne Museum of Contemporary Art; Camera USA, Florida; The Center for Fine Art Photography, Colorado; He’s been awarded the Bronze Award by FAPA, London for his work on the Salton Sea. He’s received honorable mentions from the Monochrome Photography Awards; Also from the International Photography Awards.

These are but an eyeful _ badges from pilgrimage – tokens from places where miracles occurred – postage stamps encapsulating the pride and optimism of a nation.

As illustrations, gestures from the shoulder are described. Abstract patterns upon which gestures of the seemingly uncontrolled subconscious of a colossus are recorded. This “art insolite” speaks truths about our condition.

Upon the colors that ache like the unfolding of spring blooms, are the smears and rubbed markings, caustic pours, insatiable rot and corrosion that we inflict upon nature daily.

Nature shrieks back.

A narrative component is provided through scales of measure, encodings, symbols, and other elements that have been cast, stamped, and welded to the ‘prepared surface’. The record of forces endured / procured is rich with association.

These images are not from these landlocked regions. They recall cayenne and saffron, translucent icebergs, magenta and Baltic breezes, the khaki dusty haze of Southeast Asia. Baked, they have been transformed.

Their intoxicating beauty endures heightened through contrast and made more poignant through the assimilation of these destructive forces.

As surfaces they have been prepared in a deliberate and purposeful manner, yet there are few clues as to why. As images, they are composed as paintings, and are records of graphic and painterly action.

They are also about space. Not space that distances us from an object but the space of the object.

They have no beginning or end. Like the work of Clifford Still.

Indeed these pictures are a celebration of the organic qualities of our most synthetic materials. Their ability to be transformed, their vulnerability to forces beyond even their mighty control, is laid bare.